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A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
41–50 of 180 posts
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
All of these are "not only but also" solutions. One thing we need to do is end the extraction and burning of fossil fuels, but that only addresses one type of pollution, and it only gets us so far if the alternative doesn't pollute in some way. (For example, solar and the waste that it generates.) We need to solve the whole ecosystem issue.
> We need to solve the whole ecosystem issue. Which unless we come up with some pretty smart measures is inevitably going to involve poorer lifestyles for most in the developed world, in effect (and perhaps this explains the keeness on the left for environmental issues) moving us to a more socialist model, wherein hard work offers far less in terms of monetary reward than at present.
What does it profit a man to gain monetary reward if he loses his sustaining ecosystem?
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having your cake and eating it too sounds like a great option. It just doesn’t have any basis in reality.
Parent as I read it isn't suggesting that having your cake and eating it too is possible, instead they're attempting to establish a dual-scale demarcation of viewpoints with one scale being "Prohibition or allowance of fossil fuels" and the other scale being "Fixes or does not fix climate change". This is useful because polling has discovered many US Republicans will actually vote for climate solutions _if_ they empl…
I suspect that unfortunately there is a mismatch between hypothetical polling and reality given the current outright hostility to solar and wind in spite of them contribuiting jobs and income in their regions. Farmers are renting land for turbines using fallow fields for solar panels and are facing bizzare objections when there are fewer externalities than the existing options.
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#44Does that series cover eliminating Rupert Murdoch? I know that this is taboo to discuss, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that non-technical solutions to climate change will necessarily include the elimination of those who metaphorically are holding a gun to humanity's head.
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#45That only "fixes" climate change as long as the trees continue growing and do not die. When dead, trees release their CO_2 that they've sequestered back into the atmosphere due to decomposition. Therefore, assuming those forests stay around, you've only delayed the problem by sinking a fixed amount of CO_2 away into the living biomass of the trees. The only way to make that a permanent sink would be to biochar the tr…
We can continue to plant trees until the end of time.
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#46That only "fixes" climate change as long as the trees continue growing and do not die. When dead, trees release their CO_2 that they've sequestered back into the atmosphere due to decomposition. Therefore, assuming those forests stay around, you've only delayed the problem by sinking a fixed amount of CO_2 away into the living biomass of the trees. The only way to make that a permanent sink would be to biochar the tr…
Some trees takes years to fully decompose, even in contact with the soy, even on tropical climate. I say because I practice a kind of agriculture where we plant trees to feed to soil, we prune/cut the trees to cover the soil 4 times a year, the soil keeps increasing in organic matter (becoming darker and darker each year) and I notice some especies are very good at not decomposing, usually this are trees used for civil construction, which is another way of storing the CO2 I think. For me cutting trees down is not the problem, the real problem is not planting more... also where that energy of the tree ends up, burning wood I think is a waste.
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#47I'm burnt out or depressed with my current career (or something else), but at this moment I would happily pivot to spending the rest of my life trying to help nature. How could I create a business or venture that allowed people to make a livable wage while also working to create a balanced ecosystem between human and nature?
syntropic agriculture, that's what I'm involved right now and that's where I found this balance
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#48IIRC a single tree absorbs around 25kg of CO2 annually during its fastest growth stage. That's an equivalent of less than 200km in a compact car or 2kg of beef. I believe it makes more sense to pick the low hanging fruit which is making transportation more efficient and reducing the impact of food production.
I think an easier to understand way to look at it is that every square meter of forest is enough to offset 1 or 2 watts of carbon based energy consumption if we assume that the trees don't die and decay, no forest fires, etc. We know that's not enough to sustain a modern civilization because past civilizations were dependent on energy from wood and coulndn't sustain a much lower standard of living even with a much lower population density. By contrast solar can sustain on the order of 100 watts per square meter and can do it even in areas without enough rainfall for forests.
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, the main purpose would be to avoid tree death. And even natural death of trees can be allowed considering that an oak lives around 150 years. Regarding what you say about releasing the co2 they have stored, keep in mind that the tree is not a co2 sponge. It takes co2 and transforms a big chunk of it in other carbon-based components useful to the tree. I recommend this article that clears some ideas about trees…
A sequoia sempervirens lives 1,500 years. I am not deluding myself that we will mitigate climate change by covering Earth in sequoia, but still that gives some timescale on how long trees can live. If we could mitigate climate change for another 1,500 years we would probably have found some other mitigations by then.
I fully support any plan that ends in the forest moon of Endor. What are even the odds we'd have fossil fuels left to burn in 1,500 years? I feel like we can safely say we'd have reached peak oil by then.
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
> We need to solve the whole ecosystem issue. Which unless we come up with some pretty smart measures is inevitably going to involve poorer lifestyles for most in the developed world, in effect (and perhaps this explains the keeness on the left for environmental issues) moving us to a more socialist model, wherein hard work offers far less in terms of monetary reward than at present.
What does it profit a man to gain monetary reward if he loses his sustaining ecosystem?
Well quite. But that doesn't change the fact that enforcing poorer lifestyles will inevitably affect the incentive to work hard. This website is in no small part about startups and getting rich, isn't it?
Personally, I'm forced to compete because I live in a stupidly overpriced part of the world in terms of housing (SE UK) but apart from a nice house I need very little to support my ego apart from my dog and family, so I think I'd cope with the poorer lifestyle far better than many people I see around me, seeming to have built their self-worth around posessions and silly crazes.